Business Card Holder and Dispenser

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the invention are concerned with a business card dispenser that presents a single card to the user, when the front of the dispenser is pushed. The dispenser can hold over one hundred cards, plus one protected display card to show the contents of the dispenser. This dispenser provides a large quantity of cards in a compact volume and eliminates “dry finger” syndrome that affects many other business card dispensers. This is accomplished by use of a plunger, which pushes through a slot a single card, partially exposing it outside of the dispenser. Hence, allowing the user to grab the card with two fingers and pull it to retrieve the card.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of dispensers and moreparticularly to a business card holder and dispenser.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The use of business cards continues to be very popular by businessowners, employees, professionals and any other person seeking toconcisely share their contact and/or business information with others.Business cards are often carried personally by individuals to hand outone by one. Some will leave a large pile of business cards on their deskor in an easily accessible place. Sometimes business cards are simplyleft in the original packaging and taken out when needed. Others willleave a stack of business cards in an accessible area for others totake. For example, at an open house, a real estate agent may leave anumber of cards at a front table for potential home buyers to pick up.Advertisements posted in public places may have a single business cardattached to it.

A challenge with business cards is how to properly hold and store themfor various situations. If not kept carefully, business cards willbecome dirty and worn very quickly. Therefore is it important to have abusiness card holder, that will protect the cards.

An additional challenge is how to retrieve and hand out a business card.The action of picking up just one card is very difficult. If the cardshave a matte finish, they often stick together. If the cards have aglossy finish, multiple cards will slide around at the same time. Aperson's hand or fingernail is too thick to grab just one business cardwithout touching multiple cards. Also, a person's finger may be too dryto get enough friction on the card to allow the card to be picked up.The person may be required to wet their finger before picking it up. Tobe able to hand out just one card requires a lot of handling.

It is very difficult to properly distribute business cards without beingphysically present. Generally, a person will hand out their own businesscards, or be in close proximity to a small pile of cards. It is notpractical or professional to simply leave a large stack of businesscards completely unattended for the public to take. They are prone togetting very dirty, because multiple people will be touching them. It istoo easy for a single person to pick up multiple cards, when they onlyneed one. Also, it is possible for one person to take an entire stack ofbusiness cards or even replace the business cards with their own cards.At certain events, such as a real estate open house, there may be anoption to lay a number of cards on a table. However, it is stilldifficult to pick up a single card from a table and it does not have aprofessional look.

Business cards can also be used in conjunction with advertisements. Forexample, a card may just be attached to a flyer. The card is notnecessarily meant to be taken, but merely to display the contactinformation of the advertiser. Sometimes, people will simply cut outtabs at the bottom of a piece of paper for people to take a phonenumber. This is not professional and limited in terms of the contactinformation that will fit and the number of tabs that will fit on asingle sheet of paper. It is not possible to effectively hang upmultiple business cards in connection with an advertisement, so thatindividuals can take single cards.

There are also situations where two or more people may want to advertisetogether. It is difficult to have two different piles of business cardsdisplayed together in a manner that is clean, easy to pick up, easy tosee or capable of being hung up with the advertisement. Prior art doesnot have one that can be portable, as well as serve on a desk, table orin connection with an advertisement.

There have been attempts to make holders and dispensers. However, themajority of holders are specifically designed to be carried on one'sperson. The person will have a pocket-sized holder and will distributethe cards one by one to specific individuals. By design, thesepocket-sized holders can only hold a limited number of cards. As aresult, the holder needs to be replenished very often.

The holders still do not address the issue of how to pick up just asingle card. In order to pick up a single card, the person needs toeither forcibly slide a finger directly on the card with enough pressureto release a card, or needs to use a fingernail to bend one card upwardsto be picked up. Both of these situations may cause damage to the cards.

Business card dispensers that are currently available generally must beoperated by the holder of the dispenser. Again, the dispensers are meantfor a person to hand out cards individually. Also, the currentlyavailable dispensers often still require that the card be flexed or bentin some manner when picking it up.

What is needed is a business card holder and dispenser that can hold alarger amount of cards, but is still compact enough to be portable,stackable and hangable. What is further needed is a dispenser thatallows cards to be dispensed without touching multiple cards and withoutflexing or handling the card in a manner that will make it worn, whilestill ensuring that only one card is dispensed at a time. What is alsoneeded is a business card dispenser that can be placed in some public orcentral location, outside of the owner/holder/monitor of the dispenser,while still ensuring that the cards remain clean and that only one cardis dispensed at a time. What is further needed is a business carddispenser that can be secured in some manner, so that other peoplecannot easily take the business cards contained inside the dispenser, orreplace the contents of the dispenser with different business cards.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention are concerned with a business carddispenser, that presents a single card to the user, when the front ofthe dispenser is pushed. The dispenser can hold over one hundred cards,plus one protected display card to show the contents of the dispenser.This dispenser provides a large quantity of cards in a compact volumeand eliminates “dry finger” syndrome that affects many other businesscard dispensers. This is accomplished by use of a plunger, which pushesa single card through a slot, partially exposing it outside of thedispenser. Hence, allowing the user to grab the card with two fingersand pull it to retrieve the card.

The front is a two-piece cover and serves to hold a business card in avertical slot and is the place the user presses to eject a card. Thisallows the user to see what cards are in the dispenser and provides alarge, stable area for the end user to push. This can also be anadvertising medium for the card owner. Below the display card is a thinopening, which is the ejection point of the card. When the dispenser ispressed the business card is pushed through this small slot.

On either side of the bottom of the front are two screws. These lock thefront in place and prevent users from opening the dispenser and takingor replacing cards. When the screws are removed the owner of thedispenser can refill or replace cards as necessary. This is a simpleprocess of lifting the front about a spring loaded pivot and pushing newcards into the cradle releasing the front and tightening the screws backin place returns the business card dispenser ready for use.

The front is secured to a cradle, which holds the cards, and a pressureplate by a hinge and hinge pin. Torsion springs placed on the hinge pinprovide the spring loading for the front and the pressure plate. Thepressure plate is used to provide a downward force on the cards. This isrequired so that the business cards are pushed into place so that theplunger will engage a card and force it through the ejector slot. Thepressure plate has “fingers” that will fit through openings in thecradle. This is to extend the length of the pressure plate so that alarge stack of cards may be used in the dispenser.

The stack of cards rests in the cradle. The cradle consists of a knucklefor the hinge pin to which the front and pressure plate are attached. Onthe outside walls of the cradle, left and right, are snaps which engageand snap into a slot in the shell. This provides a restricted slidingaction of the cradle. Once engaged in this slot the cradle andcomponents attached to it cannot be removed from the shell. The frontportion of each boss is flattened so that it will hit a likewise flatportion of the slots in the shell. This is the bearing surface, whichprevents the cradle from extending any more from the shell.

Two compression springs, which engage the cradle and shell, normally actto push the cradle forward. The action of the user is to push the frontand overcome the force of these two springs. As this occurs the cradleis slid deeper into the shell and a stationary plunger engages an edgeof the bottom-most business card and pushes it through the ejector slot.When the user releases the front, the compression springs extend pushingthe cradle back to its extended or rest position. Friction between thecard above and the cradle floor below, ensures that the ejected businesscard remains ejected when the dispenser is released.

The cradle has a slot similar in size to the ejector slot. It is at thebottom of the back wall of the cradle. The plunger is sized in depth sothat the forward edge is captured in this slot when the card dispenseris in its extended position. This is to prevent any misaligning of theplunger with respect to the slot in the cradle.

The shell not only provides a case for which to hold the dispensercomponents, but also provides the slots, which allow the cradle totranslate in and out to dispense a card. The plunger is attached to theshell in a slot in the back of the shell. Above the plunger are twostakes, which hold the compression springs. Each of these stakes have asmall tab which prevents the spring from falling off the stake duringuse and they speed assembly of the unit by securing the springs when thecradle is inserted into the shell.

The back of the shell has two holes which are centered on the stakes.These provide a means for which the dispenser may be attached to abackboard or other display with the use of screws. Also the back is flatso that double sided tape may be used in lieu of screws.

The general shape of the shell and front allow multiple dispensers to befixed to a display or board with little dead space between units. Thespring loaded front piece which allows front loading of cards and thepush-in action to eject a card also means that the required spacingbetween card dispensers is minimal.

It is an object of the present invention to have a business carddispenser that is large enough to hold a large amount of cards, but iscompact enough to be portable, stackable and hangable. It is also anobject of the invention to dispense of a single business card by asimple motion and without handling of the cards. It is further an objectof the invention to have a business card dispenser that may be placed ina public or central location, in a secure manner, while still dispensingone card at a time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be understood more fully from the detaileddescription that follows and from the accompanying drawings, whichhowever, should not be taken to limit the invention to the specificembodiments shown, but are for explanation and understanding only.

FIG. 1. illustrates a perspective view of the business card dispenser.

FIG. 2. illustrates a perspective view of the front panel of thedispenser and its components.

FIG. 3. illustrates a perspective view of the cradle of the dispenser

FIG. 4. illustrates a perspective view of the shell of the dispenser andits components

FIG. 5 illustrates a perspective view of the dispenser to see how themain component parts fit together.

FIG. 6 illustrates a cross section of the dispenser in the normalposition

FIG. 7 illustrates a cross section of the dispenser in the compressedposition

FIG. 8 illustrates a cross section of the dispenser in the open positionwith a stack of business cards.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description specific details are set forth, such asdevice types, configurations, protocols, applications, etc., in order toprovide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However,persons having ordinary skill in the relevant arts will appreciate thatthese specific details may not be needed to practice the presentinvention

FIG. 1 illustrates the business card dispenser 10. The dispenser 10 isin a general rectangular shape, with dimensions generally proportionalto a standard business card. Due to the rectangular shape of thedispenser, multiple dispensers may be easily stacked or lined up againstone another, without the need for excessive wasted space. The height ofthe dispenser can be made large enough to hold over one hundred cards.This is particularly useful in advertising situations, where it may benecessary to distribute a large number of cards. The dispenser 10 has afront panel 20, further illustrated in FIG. 2 and a shell 40, furtherillustrated in FIG. 4.

FIG. 2 illustrates the component parts of the front panel 20 of thedispenser 10. The front panel 20 is comprised of a front cover 22, madeup of two panels 22 a and 22 b. The panels 22 a and 22 b join togetherto create a vertical opening. The vertical opening is large enough tohouse a single business card 21. The front panel 22 a of the front cover22 is made up of a transparent or translucent material, so that thewritten contents of the business card 21 are clearly visible on theoutside of the dispenser 10.

The front panel 20 has an ejector slot 23 large enough to dispense asingle business card from within the dispenser. A single business cardwill appear far enough out of the ejector slot 23 so that a person mayeasily take the single business card. The ejector slot 23 is very thin,so that it will not allow multiple cards to be improperly dispensed outat the same time.

The front panel 20 has screw holes 24 a for two screws 24 b. The screws24 b are used to lock the front panel 20 to the dispenser 10. Thisprevents other people from easily opening the front panel and removingthe stack of business cards from within the dispenser. However, it givesthe owner the ability to unscrew the front panel 20 and replenish thebusiness cards when necessary. The screws 24 can attach to the cradle 30at the cradle attachment points 37, depicted in FIG. 3.

The front panel 20 has a place for a removable label 25. The label 25can be used to give instructions to a user of the dispenser. Forexample, the label 25 may state “Push Here—Take Card.” The label 25 canbe used to give any message to potential users of the dispenser.

FIG. 3 illustrates a cradle 30. The cradle 30 is housed inside the shell40. The cradle 30 comprises a bottom plate 35. Business cards are placedon the bottom plate 35. The dimensions of the bottom plate 35 are justlarge enough to hold a business card. The bottom plate 35 is not largeenough to allow business cards to move in the x and y direction withinthe cradle 30.

The business cards are held in place in the z direction by a pressureplate 31. The pressure plate has a hinge 34 that attaches to the body ofthe cradle 30 at the cradle hinge 34. The hinges 34 allow the pressureplate 31 to always stay in contact with the top of the business cardstack. As the stack gets smaller, the pressure plate 31 rotatesdownward. The pressure plate 31 maintains enough pressure on the top ofthe stack to keep the business cards tightly packed in the cradle 30.This helps to ensure that only a single card is dispensed through theejector slot 23 of the front panel 20. Also, the pressure plate 31ensures that the business cards are properly aligned with the ejectorslot 23. The pressure plate 31 has fingers 36 that allow it to extendthrough the openings 33 at the back of the cradle 30. The fingers 36extend the length of the pressure plate 31, so that a large stack ofbusiness cards may be used in the dispenser. As the pressure plate 31rotates down, the fingers 36 fit through the openings 33 to allow theplate 31 to stay in contact with the stack of business cards. The hinges34 are also used to attach the top of the front panel 20 to the top ofthe cradle 30. Flapper springs 38 are positioned at the front end of thepressure plate 31. The flapper springs 38 prevent the cards at the topof the stack 61 from rotating upwards due to the force of the pressureplate 31 at the back of the cards.

The cradle 30 locks into the proper position with the shell 40 by use ofthe tabs 32. The tabs 32 are on the left and right side of the cradle.The tabs 32 should be aligned with the elongated slots 43 depicted inFIG. 4. The slots 43 lock the cradle 30 to its proper sliding positionand motion.

FIG. 4 illustrates a shell 40. The shell 40 is used to house the cradle30. The shell has a pair of stakes 42, which hold compression springs 41in place. The compression springs 41 are uncompressed in their normalposition and rest on the stakes 42 against the back wall of the shell40. An ordinary person should be able to overcome the force of thesprings 41. The springs 41 should require enough force so that abusiness card is only dispensed based on a deliberate action by aperson. The shell 40 has tracks 43, which help to guide the motion ofthe cradle.

FIG. 5 illustrates how the front panel 20, the cradle 30 and the shell40 fit together. The front panel 20 attaches to the cradle 30 at thehinges 34. The front panel 20 is also screwed into the cradle at thescrew positions 24 and 37. The cradle 30 sits inside the shell 40. Theback of the cradle 30 and back of shell 40 are separated by thecompression springs 41, which sit on the stakes 42. The length of thesprings 41 are long enough to allow the pressure plate 31 to rotatedownward through the openings 34.

FIG. 6 illustrates a cross section view of the dispenser 10 at a restingposition. The stack of cards 61 is in the cradle. The pressure plate 31is depicted in FIG. 6 as being rotated by the hinge to be in an upwardposition. However, the stack 61 may be pressed downward by the pressureplate 31. The pressure plate 31 can be rotated by the hinge 34 so thatit is directly in contact with the stack 61. The flapper spring 38 ispositioned at the front end of the pressure plate 31. When the pressureplate 31 is rotated downward towards the stack 61, the springs 38 comein contact with the front end of the stack. This keeps the front of thestack from angling upwards due to the pressure from the pressure plate31. The compression spring 41 is in its normal, uncompressed position.

The bottom of the stack 61 is directly aligned with the ejector slot 23.Also aligned with the stack 61 is a plunger 62, more clearly depicted inFIG. 6 a. The plunger 62 is stationary and is attached at the shell 40.The plunger 62 is similar in length and height of a standard businesscard. The cradle 30 has a slot similar in size to the ejector slot 23,aligned with the plunger 62. The depth of the plunger 62 is similar tothe length of the compression spring 41 and is sized so that the leadingedge is captured in the back slot of the cradle 30. The plunger isaligned with the bottom of the stack 61 and fits in the slot of thecradle 30, and does not come in contact with the stack 61 while thedispenser 10 is in its normal position. The leading edge of the plunger62 can be beveled. A person may push the front panel 20 in the direction63 of the shell, thus compressing the springs 41.

FIG. 7 illustrates the dispenser 10 once it has been compressed. (Note:there are no business cards visible in this depiction.) The spring 41 iscompressed against the stake 42. The ejector slot 23 remains aligned tothe bottom of the cradle 30. Because the spring 41 has been compressed,the cradle 30 is closer in position to the shell 40. However, theplunger 62 remains in its locked position, stationary relative to theshell 40. Therefore, the front end of the plunger is now inside thecradle 30, through the slot at the back of the cradle. The small bevelat the leading edge of the plunger 62 helps prevent the penultimate cardfrom interfering with the plunger 62 when the dispenser 10 iscompressed. This motion of the cradle 30 coming towards the shell 40allows the plunger 62 to push the bottommost card. The business card ispushed and ejected through the ejector slot 23. The card is extended outof the front panel 20 so that it may be taken and picked up by a person.

Once pressure on the front panel 10 is released, the spring 41uncompresses, the cradle 30 slides to its normal position and theplunger 62 is no longer in direct contact with a business card. Due togravity and the pressure plate 35, the stack 61 is forced downward tothe bottom plate 35. The dispenser resumes the position depicted in FIG.6.

FIG. 8 depicts the dispenser 10 in the open position. The front panel 20is lifted upwards about the hinge 32. This allows for easy access to thestack 61, for replenishment or replacement.

1. A business card dispenser comprising: a cradle, having an area tohold business cards; a trigger mechanism for dispensing a singlebusiness card from the cradle; and a front panel, having a hinge forattaching to front of the cradle, an ejector slot for allowing a singlebusiness card to eject from the dispenser, and wherein said front panelmay initiate the trigger mechanism.
 2. The dispenser of claim 1, whereinthe front panel can be detachably screwed to the cradle.
 3. Thedispenser of claim 1, wherein the front panel comprises two panels,creating a vertical opening to house a single business card.
 4. Thedispenser of claim 1, wherein the front panel comprises a removablelabel.
 5. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the dispenser is mountableand hangable.
 6. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the dispenser isstackable against one or more additional business card dispensers. 7.The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the cradle can hold over one hundredbusiness cards.
 8. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the cradle isproportional in shape to a business card.
 9. The dispenser of claim 1,further comprising a pressure plate, having a hinge for attaching to topof cradle, and capable of maintaining pressure on business cards. 10.The dispenser of claim 1, further comprising: a pressure plate, having ahinge for attaching to top of cradle, and capable of maintainingpressure on business cards; and one or more flaps, attached to thepressure plate, for preventing front edge of business cards from liftingupwards.
 11. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the trigger mechanism iscomprised of: a plunger, having similar length to the business card andidentical height to the front panel ejector slot, and wherein saidplunger is aligned to the bottom business card in the cradle and lockedin a stationary position; and a spring, positioned to the outside of theback panel of the cradle, and wherein once the front panel is pressedinward toward back panel of the cradle, said spring compresses and thecradle slides, moving along the axis of the spring.
 12. A business carddispenser comprising: a cradle to hold multiple business cards, having aleft, right, bottom and back plate; a shell, to house the cradle, andallowing the cradle to slide in and out of the shell; a plunger,attached to the shell at a fixed point, in a position to dispense asingle business card from the cradle; and a front panel, having a hingefor attaching to front of the cradle, an ejector slot for allowing abusiness card to eject from the dispenser, and wherein said front panelinitiates a plunger to dispense a single business card through saidejector slot.
 13. The dispenser of claim 12, wherein the front panel canbe attached to the cradle by screws positioned towards bottom of frontpanel.
 14. The dispenser of claim 12, further comprising: one or moresnaps, located on the outside of said left or right plate; one or moreslider slots, located on the inside of said shell, wherein said sliderslots are positioned to align with said snaps and allow cradle to slidein a restricted motion.
 15. The dispenser of claim 12, wherein the frontpanel comprises two panels, creating a vertical slot.
 16. The dispenserof claim 12, wherein the front panel comprises a removable label. 17.The dispenser of claim 12, wherein the business card dispenser ismountable and hangable.
 18. The dispenser of claim 12, wherein two ormore business card dispensers may be stacked and lined up.
 19. Thedispenser of claim 12, further comprising: One or more tabs, located ona back wall of the shell; and One or more springs positioned betweenback panel of cradle and shell, and positioned on said tabs, whereinsaid springs are normally pushed out, and may be pushed in by pressingon the front panel, and wherein said springs allow cradle to slidetowards shell.
 20. The dispenser of claim 12, wherein the shell iscomprised of tracks along side walls, guiding the sliding motion of thecradle.
 21. The dispenser of claim 12, wherein the cradle can hold overone hundred business cards.
 22. The dispenser of claim 12, wherein thecradle and shell are proportional in shape to a business card.
 23. Thedispenser of claim 12, further comprising: a pressure plate, having ahinge for attaching to top of cradle, and capable of maintaining aconstant pressure on said business cards.
 24. The dispenser of claim 12,further comprising: a pressure plate, having a hinge for attaching totop of cradle, and capable of maintaining a constant pressure on saidbusiness cards; and one or more flaps, attached to the pressure plate,for preventing front edge of business cards from lifting upwards.